Effective and Ineffective Advertisements

I will first bring to the stand one of my all-time favorite advertisements: Mac v. PC. I absolutely love these commercials, and I view them as remarkably effective. The portrayal of a Mac as a down-to-earth, user-friendly, likeable guy in juxtaposition to the obnoxious, difficult, unecessarily formal PC is very convincing. It is also very funny. Those who have experience with both Mac and PC computers know that Mac software is generally more intuitive and reliable. At least that has been my experience. These adds bring to my mind the experience I have had and convince me that the stereotype really is true. I believe Mac computers to be superior to PC computers, in part thanks to these television ads.

The second series of advertisements I think are effective and good are the "freecreditreport.com" advertisements. These advertisements always feature a catchy song with funny lyrics that get stuck in one's head. When a jingle is stuck in your head, the advertising continues on long after you hear or see it. This guy with his guitar sings a song (I believe) about marrying into thousands of dollars of debt because he didn't check his fiancees credit report. He wishes he was a happy bachelor with a dog in his yard, instead of living in his mother's basement with his wife. These advertisements are obviously very effective, because when I needed a credit report a while ago, they were the first website that popped into my mind.

Now the following advertisement is symbolic of the many, many identical car advertisements I have seen in my life. There are many unique, funny, fun car advertisements. However, there are too many that simply

show a shiny car driving thru woods or mountains or deserts or snowy roads. When I see such an advertisement, I am immediately turned off. I usually don't even pay attention to what brand of car is being advertised. I have just seen that exact same advertisement too many times, and it is boring to me. I suppose if I was looking to buy a car I might feel differently, but even then I am doubtful. I don't care for these nature-drive commercials at all. They strike me as too similar and ineffective. Advertising should be all about standing out so consumers take note.

This final advertisement is just plain bad. Granted, it looks like it was designed before modern advertising techniques were developed, but it is still just a bad advertisement. The advertisement uses the words "less irritating." In my mind, this insinuates that Luckies Cigarettes are still irritating to some degree, albeit a lesser one. The doctor at the top of the page seems to be saying, "Go ahead, have a cigar. It will only irritate your throat a little!" Also, this advertisement switches tenses from "they are less irritating" to "It's toasted!" I want to know: less irritating than what? Than chewing fiberglass? and what's toasted? What does toasted even mean? You smoke cigarettes, you don't toast them! For these reasons, I consider this a bad advertisement.